Pro-BDS Groups to Take Part in New York Israel Day Parade?

Leftist pro-boycott groups set to participate in New York's biggest show of support for the Jewish state - activists seeks to stop them.

By Tova Dvorin

First Publish: 3/31/2014, 6:06 PM

Israel Day Parade

Arutz Sheva

Leftist Jewish groups supporting the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel will be participating in New York City's Israel Day Parade - and one watchdog group is rallying to prevent them from ruining one of the US's biggest pro-Israel events.

JCCWatch noted Monday that three pro-BDS groups are participating in the Israel Day parade, each of them blatantly promoting anti-Israel causes.

Partners for Progressive Israel includes a list of products to boycott "made in settlements" on its website; the New Israel Fund (NIF) finances several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) which support the BDS movement and have taken active steps to encourage others to divest or boycott Israel; and well-known radical-left group B'Tselem produced an infamous video for "Israel Apartheid Week."

In light of the news, several organizations - including JCCWatch, Americans for a Safe Israel (AFSI), ZStreet, Americans for Peace and Tolerance, Ha-emet, and the National Conference on Jewish Affairs - are organizing a rally outside the UJA-Federation building in NYC. The goal: to ban pro-BDS groups from participating in the parade.

The rally will be held on April 8, 2014, between 4:00-7:00 pm, outside the UJA-Federation headquarters at 130 E. 59th St.

Pro-Israel groups have boycotted the Israel Day Parade before in protest over the participation of BDS groups. In 2012, a "Concert in the Park" calling attention to the hypocrisy of BDS in the parade was arranged as an alternative to the procession.